NRL introduces new measures to avoid doping scandals like that which has engulfed Cronulla Sharks

Updated
Thu 5 Dec 2013, 6:48 AM AEDT

Photo

NRL Head of Football, Todd Greenberg speaks to the media during the NRL 2014 Season Draw Announcement.

Getty: Brendon Thorne

NRL club doctors will no longer report to coaches as part of a raft of measures introduced to help avoid a repeat of the doping scandal which engulfed Cronulla this season.

The NRL today released its 2014 season draw, but the code is yet to resolve the drug scandal involving the Sharks which overshadowed the past year.

A meeting of NRL chief executives on Wednesday was told each club would be required to set up a supplement committee which would approve and oversee the distribution of supplements to players.

Clubs will also be required to give the NRL a list of supplements being used.

No players will be permitted to be injected without the approval of the club doctor - who will now report to the club board - with club chief executives to have the ultimate accountability for supplement programs undertaken by their football department.

The new set of guidelines comes with the NRL still awaiting word from ASADA before acting on allegations of the possible use of banned substances at the Sharks in 2011.

The NRL has been conducting its own inquiry into the management of the Sharks, but there is also a separate, ongoing ASADA investigation.

The NRL insists its investigation into the Sharks will be completely independent.

NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said the NRL was not in a position to make any decisions over the scandal.

"We haven't managed to reach any outcome here," Greenberg said.

"We've allowed the investigation to take its place and when that does finish, the NRL will make its decisions based on the facts presented, but we are not in a position to do that yet."

Salary cap changes presented in February

In other developments at Wednesday's Sydney gathering, club bosses were told that proposed salary cap changes would be presented in February.

The NRL undertook a thorough review of what had become an outdated system for controlling player payments, with the league raising the possibility that salary cap rules could be relaxed at the NRL's discretion for certain players.

This would avoid a repeat of Parramatta's botched attempt to sign Israel Folau last year, with salary cap restrictions eventually leading to the then AFL star signing switching to rugby union.

It was also confirmed that the state leagues would become more closely aligned with the NRL, culminating in the winners of the NSW Cup and Queensland Cup clashing on grand final day as a curtain-raiser to the NRL decider.